TO GUANTÁNAMO BAY, CUBA FOR MILITARY COMMISSION HEARINGS AGAINST HADI AL-IRAQI/NASHWAN AL TAMIR

I am library faculty at Indiana University McKinney School of Law and have participated in the Law School’s Military Commission Observation Project (MCOP) as a Non-governmental organization (NGO) observer, since November 2018. I was approved by the Pentagon to travel to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for U.S. Military Commission hearings against Hadi al-Iraqi/Nashwan al Tamir scheduled for 6-15 January, 2019.

In November 2018, I had an opportunity to travel to Ft. Meade, Maryland, to monitor, observe, and report on pre-trial proceedings in the case against Hadi al Iraqi/Nashwan al Tamir (via CCTV) held on 6-9 November, 2018, as a NGO representative on behalf of the Indiana University McKinney School of Law’s Military Commission Observation Project. Professor George Edwards created the project, which sends Indiana University McKinney School of Law students, faculty, staff, and graduates to Guantánamo, Ft. Meade, the Pentagon, and elsewhere to monitor hearings. Our mission is to attend, observe, be seen, analyze, critique, and report on proceedings, which primarily are pre-trial proceedings for persons associated with al Qaeda, or the Taliban, who allegedly perpetrated war crimes. More about MCOP and Hadi/Nashwan may be found in my earlier blog post here.

In preparation for my trip, I have been reading the GuantánamoBay Fair Trial Manual, the KnowBefore You Go To Guantánamo Bay Manual, Military Commissions reports, also following Miami Herald online and reading Carol Rosenberg’s tweets on the latest goings in Guantánamo. Her latest tweets on the Hadi al Iraqi/Nashwan al Tamir case can be found here.

I am flying to Washington D.C. tomorrow morning, before departing to Guantánamo Bay on Sunday, January 6, 2019. As a first-time observer of the military hearings in Guantánamo, I am very excited and looking forward to see in-person how the operations are conducted on this remote U.S. Naval base in Cuba. I will write more before my flight to the Naval Base.

Endorsements

“While [at Guantanamo Bay] I was given a copy of the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual for U.S. Military Commissions. I read it cover to cover. This is simply required reading for anyone who goes [to Guantanamo Bay] to observe. Thank you for the enormous effort it must have taken to produce it.
[NGO Observer, 2014]

After reading the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual, "I feel a high calling to meet the obligations you note for an observer to report what they have observed.”
[NGO Observer, 2014]